


The Egyptian Exodus

by LucyMontero



Series: The Misadventures of Lucy Montero: An extremely reluctant heroine of middling talent and even less luck [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Deathly Hallows AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:45:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1909740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyMontero/pseuds/LucyMontero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the excitement of her 6th year at Hogwarts, Lucy was hoping to spend her summer relaxing in the Cairo sun, getting to know her brother's girlfriend and eating inadvisable quantities of dates.  <br/>After all, here at the Imhotep Academy, a school of little to no power or significance, she should be beyond the activities of the Dark Lord and his disturbing interest in accessing the power of the Western Circle. <br/>The only thing she should have to concern herself with is remembering to apply adequate amounts of sunscreen.<br/>Instead, she finds herself dealing with snakes, bombs, assassination attempts, Rita Skeeter's tea, and the never-ending battle for the last granola bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not an Earthquake

**Chapter One: Not An Earthquake**

"And 3...2...1..."

11 year old Regina Makosh didn't bother to look up from her watch as the fountain of water erupted behind her back.

"Well, I'll say that for it, it certainly is faithful."

Oblivious to the ooh's and ahh's of several hundred mostly Japanese tourists eagerly snapping photos, she turned around, trotted over to a bench crawling with children around her own age, and fought her way to a granola bar.

From a safe distance, the kind a safari explorer might keep between themselves and a pride of hungry lions, two figures watched the ensuing melee from a picnic bench.

"Regina just got the last granola bar."

"There's still some potato chips in there, I think."

"You know what's going to happen, don't you, when they find out that Regina took the last granola bar?"

"Regina's a sturdy girl, my money's on her."

"I mean when they find out the food is gone."

"Isn't that when we send them off to forage?"

"How much money do we have left?"

"Exactly?"

"Yes."

"Seven dollars and... forty seven cents."

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Ok, forty three cents."

"Um, Lucy..."

"They're going to come today, they  _HAVE_  to come today."

"We could take them home."

"They told us quite specifically  _not_  to take them home."

"Seven dollars and forty three cents is not going to feed this lot another night."

"Well, not the way Regina's eating it won't."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Zahra, who dropped down next to Diego at the picnic table and followed his gaze over towards where school children of various ages were grappling in hand to hand combat next to an empty cardboard box.

"You will not believe the lines for the toilets around here...Hey, who got the last granola bar?"

"Regina."

"Figures, steady girl that one."

"Lucy and I were just talking about-"

"About how now might be the time to let them go play with the bears."

"Lucy..."

"This place is known for the bears, people come from all over the world."

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not? I mean, by now they have all pretty much figured out what poison ivy is."

"Oh, that reminds me, I saw Nani in the line for the toilets, and she was scratching at something."

"Ok, this is going to an uncomfortable place."

"Don't worry, I stopped her, made her wash her hands with that anti-poison ivy soap the old people gave us, before she, you know, DID anything, but it's probably in the sleeping bag as well..."

"Oh Geez..."

"She also said that Ahkmed has been playing with some snakes he found behind the boys latrine."

"Did she say what color the snakes were?"

"Um, no, she didn-"

" _AHKMED!"_

A small nine year old boy with black curly hair and copper skin extracted himself from the ongoing battle for the last granola bar and trotted over. He was wearing a torn and dirt covered set of pajamas with planets and stars all over them.

"Ahkmed, have you been playing with snakes behind the toilets?"

Ahkmend nodded.

"What color are they please?"

"Red and black."

"Oh, all right then. Go and play."

Ahkmed smiled and happily dashed back to the tangled mass of limbs and heads, cheerfully leaping on the back of the first boy he saw and pulling him to the ground.

"Um, Lucy..."

""Red and black, friend of Jack, red and yellow kill the fellow.' He's perfectly safe."

A scream came from deep within the mass of children, but it couldn't have been too serious, as no one came running for medical attention.

A good thing too, since at the moment "medical attention" consisted of paper towels from the bathrooms to stem bloody noses and minor scratches, and three Band Aids for major wounds.

Lucy put her head down on the table.

"Um, Lucy-"

She spoke into the table.

"They're coming TODAY, Diego. We have been in the wilderness with virtually no resources, no training, and thirty seven minors, half of whom, do not speak the lingua franca, for THREE DAYS. They are coming for us TODAY."

"And, if they don't? We-"

"Are NOT taking them home. Cheer up, if they don't come by dinner, we'll eat Ahkmed's snakes."

* * *

 

_Three Days Previously..._

Lucy Montero was woken from a lovely dream, involving seahorses and water ballet, by the rather disturbing sensation have having a large book fall on her head.

This was, as it turned out, because a rather large book HAD fallen on her head. Warren Lane's old copy of Transfiguration Level Seven: The Really, Really Hard Stuff, to be precise. That wasn't the actual title, of course, it appeared that at some point during studying for his exams Warren had decided the book needed to come with some type of warning, and he had taken the liberty of adding one himself. In preparing the summer reading for her last year at Hogwats Lucy found that Warren had made several such editorial decisions throughout this book and others. It certainly made for more interesting reading.

However, a look at her watch showed that it was just after two in the morning, and she was not interested in reading her transfiguration textbook right now.

Lucy looked up and lifted her arm to put the book back in its proper place on the shelf above her bed.

THUNK

"Ow!" This was followed by a string of Spanish curses as Lucy looked down at the copy of "Standard Book of Potions: Level Seven, or 100 Ways to Kill Yourself by Professor S. Snape."

Hmm, maybe she ought to cover that one before bringing it into class.

She rubbed at the bruise on her forehead and was about to turn on a light to see what was the matter with her shelf when she felt the shudder.

Three more books fell down around her.

Apparently it was not the shelf that was broken, but the building.

In the back of her mind, Lucy began to feel that something was wrong.

Just in case the falling books hadn't been a big enough indication.

They had been here three weeks, and this had never happened, no one had mentioned any quirky habits the building had of shuddering or settling or anything like that. Nor was she aware that the city of Cairo fell along any major fault lines, so it couldn't be an earthquake.

Just then Lucy felt a rather large shudder, and she rolled out of the way just before the rest of the shelf came crashing down, the mirror fell off the wall, and her lamp fell over.

So much for turning on the light.

She shoved aside boards and books and reached under her pillow to pull out her wand.

Lucy was the only person in the school who would be doing that right now, the mages and students of Cairo's Imhotep Academy didn't use wands. In fact, the mere sight of Lucy's made the elders uncomfortable, and she had to remember to carry it in an inside pocket where it didn't peek out.

"Lumos," she whispered, using the lighted end to find her way to the door.

Still in her bare feet, she opened it and stepped out into the hall.

At that point another shock hit the school, you could hear it this time, and at the sound of glass shattering she turned to see the window in her room was now a shiny mass of glass splinters on the floor.

A split second later she hear the shouting and screaming. It appeared people who had not had books falling on their heads moments ago were just now waking up.

Doors began to open up and down the long, narrow corridor. The sleepy, confused faces of over thirty children between the ages of 8 and 12 appeared, muttering to each other in rapid Egyptian and looking around in confusion.

The door next to Lucy's opened, and she saw the tousled black hair of her lifelong friend Diego Alvarez appear. He was not sleepy, however, his dark eyes were alert, although seeing as he was tugging on a pair of jeans over his boxers and was without a shirt, it seemed he had just woken up. Lucy was tempted to laugh, she had bought those for him as a gift and had never expected the 20 year old to actually wear them. Not that she wasn't amused by the pink fluffy bunnies, but lilac really wasn't his color.

"It's not an earthquake, is it?" she asked him.

Just then she saw a figure emerge behind Diego. The willowy, dark haired form of Zahra Sharif, the 19 year old daughter of the museum curator and school librarian, wearing a pair of Diego's boxer shorts and an old tee shirt.

Lucy had time enough to register what she was seeing and raise an eyebrow.

Then the lights went out.

As if on cue, the thirty-some odd students screamed with the unity of a Greek chorus.

They stopped as soon as they had started, it seemed, for the emergency lightening kicked in, and eerie red light bulbs cast a rosy glow along the hall.

"Someone cut the power," Diego said.

Another tremor.

"What the hell is going on?" Lucy had to shout to be heard among the chattering children.

Zahra's eyes were wide. "Someone is trying to break through the school's protections. The tremors are like a warning system, a very old, very ancient warning system."

Lucy rubbed her forehead. Some warning system.

Zahra turned to Diego, "We need to find my father."

Lucy was about to comment that she shouldn't go looking for her father wearing her boyfriend's underwear, but this  _did_  seem to be an emergency.

In any case, they didn't have to. At that moment a tall man with greying black hair could be seen wading through the sea of children at the other end of the hall, he had come from the resident librarian's suite just down the hall from the entrance to the student wing.

He actually looked relieved to see Zahra there. Something must really be wrong.

"Mr. Sharif, what-"

"The school is being attacked."

"By whom?"

"We aren't certain. But all signs indicate the same force we have seen before."

Lucy gulped. The force he was talking about was the Death Eaters.

Diego nodded, "They've come for the library, I assume?"

The Cairo Museum had two functions, as a muggle museum it was a celebrated collection of ancient artifacts. The other side, in what was to the outside world the service and storage area, was a very unelegant display of the most valuable and powerful collection of western magical texts from the Mesopotamian world. It was priceless.

But Mr. Sharif shook his head. "There has been no activity from the library. The attacks are concentrated on this building."

Zahra shook her head, "They must not know what they're doing. There's nothing in this wing but the kitchens, classrooms-"

"And dormitories," Lucy finished. It was widely known that the servants of Lord Voldemort, in addition to seeking out texts that would enable them to access the natural energy used by the Western Circle, were also looking for a human code breaker, someone to use to help the untrained Eastern wizards understand HOW to use that knowledge.

Lucy looked Mr. Sharif straight in the eye. "You think they've come for the students."

The man nodded.

Diego began to look around, "We could defend this place, with the teachers-"

"The teachers can't get here in time, they are being cut off."

The academy's resident teachers, those that did not live in the city, were no fools, and had their apartments in a wing on the opposite side of the building from the ruckus of the student dormitories. It would be easy to prevent them from reaching here in time.

Another tremor, the students screamed-

"Silence!" Mr. Sharif shouted, and was obeyed.

"No one is to speak unless spoken to," he admonished the children in Egyptian, then turned back to address Lucy, Diego, and Zahra in English.

"You have to get the students out."

Zahra shook her head, "I'm not leaving you."

"Yes, you are. You are the only one who knows the secret entrances to the private library. You have to get them there. Once inside, operate the locking mechanism, it will give you some time."

He turned to Lucy and Diego. "The library is a safe energy haven. Even if they have performed the spell that prevented gating out in past attacks, you should be unhindered inside the library itself. Gate them out."

"But-"

"There's no time, and you two have probably done it more than anyone else in the building."

Lucy looked at Diego, he nodded. Mr. Sharif went on talking.

"No schools, nothing familiar. We have to assume if they could know so precisely where to find the children that they have knowledge of where other schools are. For all we know they could be attacking them right now."

"Then, where-"

"Somewhere you know is safe, but nowhere the Circle has a school. And we may not be able to get to you for several days. Do you have a mirror?"

Lucy darted for her room. "Give me ten seconds."

Another tremor hit the building as she grabbed her satchel from the side of her bed, it was already mostly packed, she simply her journals, an amulet, and a mirror and ran back out into the hall.

She showed the communication mirror to Mr. Sharif. He nodded.

"One more thing, above all else, don't bring the children back here, and don't take them to Espiritu. We have to assume that these people know you two are with us. They could be waiting."

"But the wards-"

"It is too much of a risk."

There was another tremor, violent, and the sound of running from the floor above.

"Go, now!"

Zahra kissed her father, and sprinted off through the children, "Follow me! In silence! Follow me!"

They left Mr. Sharif behind in the now empty student wing, as Zahra led the children in an eerie stampede of bare feet on carpeted floors. Diego brought up the rear, Lucy was in the middle, urging the children along as Zahra led them through side halls, behind a tapestry, up a hidden narrow staircase, through a room filled with dusty boxes, dimly lit by moonlight, and through a small door hidden behind a mirror.

They emerged fifty feet above the floor of the private library of Imhotep Academy. The cylindrical chamber had shelves of books up to the ceiling, which was just above their heads, Diego had to duck. They made their way down a curving staircase that ran along the walls. Zahra was miles ahead running down the rickety stair with an ease that came from growing up in this room. She sprinted to the center of the floor, and placed her hand upon the obelisk that stood there. She turned it 360 degrees, and to Lucy's astonishment, it sank two feet into the floor. At the same time, a grinding and clicking noise could be heard, and great slabs of stone dropped in front of the four doors on the first floor, and sporadically in places higher up in the walls. The secret entrances.

"It used to be temple of sorts," Zahra said as explanation. "That also activates an energy shield, they won't be able to pop in here."

Lucy assumed she was alluding to apparating, and nodded.

Diego turned to her, "Where are we going to go Luce?"

"Since when is this  _my_  call?"

"You've done this more than me."

How the hell was she supposed to decide? In fact, for some reason only one bizarre choice was going through her head, she couldn't really think of any other.

Oh well, any port in a storm.

She whirled around to the throng of children.

"Attention!" she prayed her Egyptian didn't sound as rusty as it was. The key to children was to show no fear.

"We are going on a field trip! And we are traveling by gate!"

Intense chattering.

"We can't go until everyone is silent."

Instantly you could hear a pin drop. Lucy was impressed.

"All right, first, everyone needs to have a gating buddy."

Like elementary PE class, this was not a simple matter for children, and Lucy had to wait several minutes for the children to pair off.

"Do you have your gating buddy?"

18 pairs of children held up their joined hands.

A small voice cried, "I don't!"

Lucy felt a stab of pity. "Come here then."

He couldn't be more than eight, with messy brown curls and big brown eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Omiri."

"Well, Omiri, you can be MY gating buddy."

There was an appreciative chorus of "oohs" from the other 36 students.

Diego came over, "We ought to get going." Then he bent down to Omiri. "Hey, be a help, would you Omiri, and go take care of my gating buddy," he pointed to Zahra, "I think she's a little scared."

Omiri nodded, straightened up, walked over to Zahara, and took her hand.

With the children well subdued, Lucy and Diego began to form the gate. Diego spun the energy and 'handed' it off to Lucy, who was setting the destination, and stabilizing.

When it was finished, Diego looked through at the destination.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Lucy shrugged, "I was under pressure. You have to admit, it's the last place they'll ever look for us."

Diego nodded.

Lucy turned back to the students. "Diego and Zahra here are going to demonstrate proper gating procedure. Pay attention, and remember, when you land on the other side, please move out of the way so you don't trample yourselves."

The children giggled. Omiri came to stand at Lucy's side, and Diego and Zahra approached the gate. They held hands, and as one stepped over the threshold and vanished.

The students gasped.

"All right, who's next?"

The children collectively took a step back from the gate. All except two. What looked to be an eleven year old girl in a pair of Chinese pajamas and an eight year old girl who, it appeared, liked to sleep in a Disney princess Halloween costume. Both were staring at the gate with curiosity.

"Regina, I don't know..."

"Come on Jas, it'll be fun."

It seemed to be all the encouragement required, and the younger girl nodded. Regina took her hand; they approached the gate, and stepped through.

Not to be outdone, a pair of 12 year old boys went through next, and soon Lucy had to slow the stampede to make sure only two were going through at a time.

Kids these days.

When it was finally just her and Omiri in the room, Lucy put out her wand, swung on her satchel, and took the little boy's hand. A tremor shook the floor violently.

"Come on Omiri, this place is getting kind of boring."

The little boy grinned, and they stepped through the portal. After a few disorienting seconds, they found themselves in a sheltered glade, not far from the entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

* * *

 

_Author's Note:_

_Hello again, to those of you who are still out there, reviewers and lurkers alike. Just to clarify, this story is probably going to be more like the interlude I wrote between Apple Pie and Enchiladas and Rockinghorse People, Rebels, and Redcoats; that is, this is just the summer, and Lucy's 7th year will be a different story. Oh, and if you have not read the first 3 in the "series", this probably makes more sense if you have, although, since they are kind of long, I try to re-explain things as much as possible. Except, of course, when I don't explain anything, which, as those of you who have read the other three stories have already figured out, I do a lot. Cheers!_


	2. The Field Trip

**Chapter Two: The Field Trip**

"Hmph, tastes like chicken."

"What did you tell Ahkemd?"

"That I set them free."

"I mean what did you tell them this was?"

"Eel."

"And they ate it?"

"They wrestled for three hours over a granola bar this morning, I don't think they care where it came from."

Cleaning and roasting snakes in Yellowstone National Park was a little more difficult than Lucy had thought, but not impossible. With the children nestled in sleeping bags, with the exception of Nani, who had a blanket until they could figure out how to de-ivy her sleeping bag, the three "adults" sat next to the campfire to enjoy their "meal".

When they had first arrived it was obvious that the forest glade was not going to provide enough in the way of shelter, and nothing in the way of food. They were going to have to go somewhere for supplies. Diego suggested that one of them return to the Espiritu Institute, check to make sure it was safe, and then quickly bring over supplies.

They had flipped a coin in the end, Zahra couldn't make a gate if she had to leave quickly, so she was ineligible. Diego had won. They had waited for a few hours, and then used Lucy's old amulet to return Diego to their home, Espiritu Institute, in the desert of northwestern New Mexico.

There had been no one at the school, which was under magical protections that should have kept out anyone but Lucy, Diego, or the Maintainers- the mysterious-yet-efficient guardians of the western circle. It had taken Diego very little time to round up sleeping bags, tents, and food.

It was remarkably quick because there was no one living at Espiritu anymore. The school had been attacked over a year and a half ago by a mysterious enemy, that had later turned out to be servants of the wizard Voldemort. At the time of the attack, all conventional means of escape had been blocked, and the hundred or so occupants to survive the initial siege had taken refuge by gating into a void from which, it was expected, they would never return.

That being the case, it was a simple matter for Diego to slip into apartments and find camping equipment, which was plentiful since most Espiritu residents enjoyed extended trips into the wilderness surrounding their desert home.

Food, however, was another matter. Lucy and Diego no longer lived at the school except on rare occasions, and there had been little left in the kitchen. Diego had returned with several bags of rice, canned soup, and all the cash he could scrounge. They had purchased granola bars and a few other cheap items from the small convenience store near the park. It hadn't lasted long.

Lucy stared down at the last bits of snake on her plate. She had no idea what they were going to do tomorrow.

As if in answer to her prayer, she heard a voice from her pocket.

"Hello? Lucy? Diego? Zahra?"

Instantly alert the other two dropped their plates and peered over Lucy's shoulders as she ripped the communication mirror out of her pocket. It was a piece of leather folded in half, with two mirrors on the inside, one with its face to the leather, another reflecting out. Instead of a reflection on the out-facing mirror there appeared the face of Mr. Sharif.

"Thank God," Zahra breathed.

"You are all safe?"

"Yes," Lucy replied, "Can we come back now?"

"No."

It took a moment to register.

"What?"

"It isn't safe."

"Mr. Sharif, you don't understand, we are in the middle of the woods, still in pajamas, and I just fed your students snake for dinner. We don't have the resources to last another night!"

"You fed them snake? What color was it?"

"Red and black! We have to come back!"

"Hey, that rhymed!"

Diego grinned. Lucy shot him a Look, this was not a laughing matter. Why was it the minute she left a school they didn't let her come back?

Mr. Sharif looked troubled. "I'm sorry, I want the students home as soon as possible, but there are complications. Several other schools were hit at the same time as ours, and more yesterday. It feels like a concentrated search. All the schools targeted so far have had young students, or the only areas of the school that were under attack were those areas with young students."

Diego shook his head. "But a younger student wouldn't know as much."

Zahra thought for a moment. "They must know more than we think. They don't think they need any advanced knowledge, they just need the basics."

"To crack the code," Lucy finished.

"Or to use a child as leverage." Mr. Sharif finished. "We can't bring the students back knowing they are being hunted, and we certainly can't send them home, where they are in even more danger. All the enemy would need is a student roster and they could go straight to their homes!"

"So what is the plan?" Lucy hated to even ask.

"We send them away from us, and keep them moving."

This  _definitely_  wasn't sounding good.

"For how long?" Diego demanded.

"Until we can find them a proper sanctuary. Hiding in the non-magical world is the best defense right now, there's no pattern that could be followed to find them. And, there's the additional consideration..."

"Which is?"

"That the traitor among us that we thought was captured last December is still at large. If the children are moving,  _that_  person cannot betray their location, because the Circle itself will not know where they are."

"And how do you expect us to manage this?"

"For you two it ought to be easier than for the others; you are experienced gaters, and you have traveled more as a part of the Espirity curriculum than any ten other students put together."

"And we aren't supposed to EAT in the meantime?"

"Of course not. If one of you will gate to Istanbul, they are, as you know, our financial center, they will provide you with funds."

Lucy's ears perked up. "Funds?"

"This is an emergency Lucy, not a vacation. You are going to need to continue camping, as you are, or use similarly inexpensive lodgings, I would suggest sticking to warm locations right now. But there will be enough for you to get the children some decent clothes and to take care of food."

Lucy noted the use of the plural. "Locations, as in several? How often do you want us to move?"

"No more than three days and three nights in each location."

"What?"

"The harder you are to pin down, the safer you are."

"What are we supposed to tell the kids?"

Mr. Sharif shrugged, "The truth. It's an extended field trip. I don't think they'll mind. Unless of course you take them somewhere ghastly."

"And we can go anywhere as long as it isn't to another school?"

"Yes, well... almost. The Guild of Minors requests you stay out of North Korea, Haiti, Zimbabwe..."

Mr. Sharif went on to list a dozen more countries, and Lucy began to understand. It was one thing to run all over the world when you were living within the safety of a school. The real world was much more dangerous.

"...and given the recent surge in cartel-related violence, pretty much all of Mexico. Also Detroit."

"Well, that narrows it down."

"Canada it is."

Mr. Sharif sighed, "It's for your own good, you know."

Zahra spoke up. "Papa, what will YOU be doing?"

"The elders have a plan, but I'm not sure what it is yet. I'll be working to bring you all home just as fast as we can, I promise."

Zahra sighed and nodded.

"All right, are there any other questions?"

"We're taking a school full of children around the world, staying no longer than three days in any location, completely unsupervised, for an unknown length of time. What more could we need to know?"

"That's the spirit my dear. Now, they are rather strict about this, as soon as this communication is finished, you need to move. In case there is any way this is being spied on and someone realizes where you are. Unless it is an emergency you shouldn't contact me or anyone else by mirror, in case the mirrors are being watched at our end. I'll be checking in from a secure connection every few days."

Diego shrugged, "Piece of cake."

Mr. Sharif nodded, "Good luck."

With that the image shimmered and Lucy was left staring at her, Zahra, and Diego's reflection in the small mirror.

"Oh, this should be fun."

They set about packing up camp and getting ready to move.

* * *

 

Thailand had been the first stop. Lucy and Diego had not been to Bangkok in six years, but it wasn't a place they forgot easily, and they managed to step out in a narrow ally on a busy street, where no one would notice their sudden arrival.

An American dollar could go very, very far in Thailand, Zahra had explained. It was the perfect place to stock up.

Their first priority, having fed the children the minute Diego returned from Turkey with the promised funds, was to get them into something other than the filthy pajamas they had been wearing for three days. Diego had managed to grab some clothing and footwear for the three of them from Espiritu, but there had been no suitable children's clothing.

However, as it turned out, neither Lucy, Diego, or Zahra knew the slightest thing about buying children's clothes.

They headed for a market, any market really, and found a stand of cheap tee shirts emblazoned with Japanese style cartoon characters. They managed to find enough suitably masculine shirts to satisfy the boys, the girls had no problem each finding a shirt of their own.

One group shopping excursion was enough to show them that 37 children in a bustling Thai marketplace was far too many to shop with at one time, so they split up; Diego taking 12, Zahra taking 12, and Lucy and Omiri taking 12

The last to leave, Lucy turned to her group.

"Well, what do you want to wear?"

That was a mistake, the boys wanted jeans, the girls wanted dresses, and Jasmine, as Regina's little friend turned out to be named, didn't want to wear anything but her namesake's princess costume.

It looked like there was nothing on earth that was going to unite her group.

When they rendezvoused back at the vegetable stall, both Diego and Zahra were shocked to see Lucy's children neatly lined up against the wall, munching on apples, completely subdued.

They were wearing cheap knockoff's of soccer club uniforms. They had each chosen different teams or countries, but Lucy had them standing in number order, and seemed extremely proud of herself.

"Luce, tell me these aren't their only clothes?"

"What do I look like? They have a a couple sets, plus a pair of jeans, shoes, a bag of underwear, and a swimsuit a piece."

"Swimsuit?"

Lucy nodded, "Hell yes. Remember the kids in Fiji? Put them on a beach and they will LIVE in that thing all day long. Frankly, once they got to pick their own uniforms, they pretty much agreed to whatever else I told them to find and try on. Oh, all but Jasmine, but we fixed that."

Diego scanned the line, and found the little Egyptian girl chatting happily in her jersey and shorts.

He raised an eyebrow, Lucy whistled through her fingers, and, too Diego and Zahra's shock, the children whipped their heads around and straightened up. Lucy made two sharp whistles, and the children turned around.

It appeared Lucy had spent the extra few pennies to have the student's last names emblazoned on the back of their shirts, with the exception of Jasmine's shirt, which instead read "Princess J."

"Nice."

"I thought so." She whistled twice again, and the children relaxed against the wall and returned to talking.

"And the whistle?"

"How else to you get them to fall back in line? It's too noisy to shout."

By the end of the day all 37 students had their own numbered and personalized uniform, the basic pieces of clothing, a towel and toiletries, a backpack to carry it in, and were responding to whistle signals. Zahra abhorred the practice, saying it sounded like she was signaling to a sheep dog.

"If only we could get that kind of obedience," Lucy had commented.

The children seemed to think it was great fun.

* * *

 

"Can we go in yet?"

"Twenty five more minutes, now sit down please."

"But I feel fine!"

"Of course you do, its when you get seized with a muscle cramp and are lying on the seabed drowning that you feel slightly more uncomfortable, now sit down and focus on digesting."

Not to be defeated easily, Raul moved down the line.

"Can we go in yet?"

"What did Diego tell you Raul?"

It was no use; those two were always on the same side. He had one more chance.

"Can we go in yet?"

"What time is it?"

"1:30."

Lucy turned over and snagged her watch.

"Nice try Raul, you've got twenty four minutes. Now be a nice boy and go play cards with the other children."

"Yes Lucy."

Diego gaped, for the life of him he could not understand the fanatical obedience that the children paid to Lucy; it was unheard of. But here, before his eyes, Raul was sitting down on his towel in the circle, alternating between staring at his watch and out at the Pacific Ocean.

When Abdul crept up and initiated what was certain to be a repeat of Raul's attempt, Lucy intercepted him and whispered in his ear. Abdul returned to his towel and gathered eight of his friends, who then proceeded quite industriously to dig a large pit in the sand. Enlisting the aid of seven or so others, they proceeded to take Diego unawares, drag him into the pit, and bury the good-natured Mexican up to his neck in sand.

Almost as soon as they had finished, Lucy looked at her watch.

"1:30! You're free to drown."

Thirty seven children made a stampede for the Tahitian shore. Lucy lazily stood up, put on her sunglasses and strolled down to the waterline to supervise.

"Come on Zahra, I can't watch them all at once!" She didn't need to, not really, they had the 12 year olds all divided up to watch over smaller groups, but still, she didn't trust Raul's attention span any longer than the time it took to devour three pieces of pizza.

Zahra put on her sunhat, a large, ridiculous floppy thing that they had found abandoned on the beach yesterday, put her sarong around her waist, and followed Lucy to the water.

"No farther than that Regina!"

"Isis, be a lamb and let him up now, I'm sure he's sorry."

"Whatever that is Ahkmed, I want you to let it go now unless you want it for dinner."

The sun sank a little lower, and as Lucy admired a particularly fine sand castle that Omiri and Perseus were building, she wondered where Diego had gone off to.

"Lucy! Can we use your wand for the flagpole?"

She thought about it for a minute, why not, the castle was nearly as tall as she was, it had to have a flag.

"Be VERY careful with this Omiri, you are going to take full responsibility for it?"

"I'll be careful."

Lucy handed him the wand, to which he tied a scarf from Jasmine's Princess costume, and stood on Perseus's back to place it on the top.

It really was quite impressive.

"You boys will have to make sure this stands up until Diego gets back, I'm sure he'll want to see it."

The boys laughed and looked suspiciously contented.

Contentment in an eight-year-old boy was never a good sign.

"What have you two done to my brother?"

"Nothing. But Diego's already seen the castle."

Lucy raised one eyebrow and looked about. She didn't see the tall Mexican anywhere

Then she looked down, and noticed that the sandcastle was built in the middle of where the circle of towels used to be.

Giving the boys a stern look, she walked around to the back of the castle.

The top of Diego's head, and the rim of a diving mask, could just be seen above the sand; that, and a protruding snorkel from which could faintly be heard the muffled sounds of indignation.

Oh dear.

Still, it was rather impressive.

* * *

 

One week later...

Diego and Zahra returned from their walk around the ancient palace, scanning the crowd for the never-stationary forms of their young charges.

They broke into a run when they saw them.

Lucy was apparently undisturbed, reading a stack of newspapers and sipping on a bottle of water.

She looked up, "Where HAVE you been?"

When Diego began to blush she shook her head, "Never mind, I don't want to know. It's pretty, sure, but really not that impressive."

Diego raised an eyebrow and looked back over his shoulder at the Taj Mahal. He decided not to ask Lucy what would qualify in her book as impressive.

Zahra was still panicked, "Lucy, what happened to the children?"

Lucy looked at the ground before her, where the students lay prone in a variety of positions.

She sighed guiltily. "I'm sorry, I caved. These papers arrived and I was dying to read them and I knew I wouldn't be able to if I was simultaneously supervising the boys' attempts to climb that thing."

"They climbed it!"

"Only the first fifty feet. They left a cap on the ground to solicit change and we actually made a tidy sum, but I made them come down when the owl arrived with those."

Diego followed Lucy's fingers to the stack of newspapers. He picked one up. "The London Times?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Of course not. But you know the way the pictures move on those things, if I sat here reading one uncovered I'd be bound to attract attention."

Diego pulled the paper open to the second page, and found himself reading the front page headline of the Daily Prophet.

"Who sent you those?"

"A friend from school."

Zahra still wasn't satisfied. "Lucy, you didn't, like, DO anything to the children did you?"

Lucy shook her head. "I promised a granola bar to whomever reached Nirvana first."

"Um, Lucy, don't they know that some monks have been trying for years- OW!"

Diego doubled over from where Lucy had punched him in the stomach.

"No they do not!" She hissed, "And if you say one word about it that breaks them out of this  _lovely_  comatose state they are in I will hex you to Hogwarts and back."

It was then that Diego noticed she had her wand out and, while hidden subtly behind the newspaper, pointed directly at his heart.

"You wouldn't dare..."

"Do anything permanent? No, I wouldn't. But there are a few things I picked up from the Slytherins that I am  _dying_  to try out."

Diego raised his hands up, "Fine, fine, I won't spoil your fun." He sat down on the wall beside her. "How did that owl find you anyway?"

"Don't worry, a normal owl couldn't. It was one of my students, and they know how to get in touch with me. I told him I'd be here today. Didn't seem too dangerous, after all, we're leaving tonight unless they call and tell us to come home."

Zahra sighed, Lucy passed her the water, and they didn't say much. Every time they discussed moving on it was with the caveat "unless they call to tell us we can come home." They hadn't had any news in a week, so that didn't seem likely.

Diego lay down for a nap, Zahra took out a book, and Lucy continued to leaf through several weeks worth of Daily Prophets, catching up on the news of the wizarding world.

Most of it wasn't terribly interesting. Lots of Quidditch reporting, Cornelius Fudge's birthday celebration, the elusiveness of the Dementors, despite an anonymous tip that had helped aurors to pick up their trail... Lucy had smiled at that one. Increased intensity of muggle badgering by Death Eaters, a wizard missing from his home in Dorset, a particularly scathing letter to the editor about Dumbledore, heightened construction at Gringott's for some mysterious purpose, a witch missing from her home in London, more Quidditch, the discovery of the missing Dorset wizard and the London witch in a MOST unorthodox position in Bath, appearance of the Dark Mark, an attack on the French Embassy resulting in the serious injury of-

"Oh my god."

Diego saw Lucy's face pale as she hurridly tore through the paper to where the front page article continued on page five.

"What is it?"

She didn't speak a word for a full five minutes, and Diego could see her eyes reading through the article. When she finished she neatly refolded the paper and tied the stack back together with string.

"I need to go take care of something."

* * *

 

 


	3. Fireworks and the French

"If you aren't back in six hours I am coming after you."

"You'll do no such thing, you _can't_ , you've never been there."

"I don't need to, I'll gate to you."

Lucy fixed her brother-in-spirit with a loving but determined look.

"You could try, but I doubt you'd be very good at it. Like you said in Cairo, I've done this more than you."

"I still don't see why you are going in the first place. What could you possibly do?"

"Nothing. I'm not going to DO anything."

"Then WHY are-"

"Because I have a friend in trouble Diego, and I want to make sure she's all right. I'm not going to do anything dangerous or illegal by checking up on her. She's all by herself, and I know what that feels like."

Diego couldn't argue with that. He took her wrist in his hand and muttered something while rolling the strand of tiny colored beads she wore between his fingers.

Lucy recognised the gesture.

"I'm not going to need it, you know."

"It's not for you, it's for me. This way I don't go insane while waiting for you to get back."

Diego had essentially turned Lucy's strand of beads, a talisman of sorts worn by their kind, which was itself half of his own strand and therefore already linked to him, into a kind of panic button. If she became terrified or got herself into trouble, he'd be able to sense it, just in case her mental sheilds blocked him from sensing her emotions directly. Diego was a powerful empath, and emotions were his specialty. They were one of Lucy's weakest areas, a point that often frustrated the hell out of him.

Lucy sighed and peered around Diego, it was impossible for her to look over him, to where Zahra was standing. "Keep him occupied, could you please? I'm going to be fine."

Zahra smiled, "Calm down Diego, she's well experienced in taking care of herself."

Diego made a half growl. "Remind me to tell you how well THAT has worked out the past two years she's been in that place."

Lucy pretended to be indignant before giving Diego a hug. "I'll be careful, I promise. When Omiri wakes up make some excuse, I don't want him to be upset that I gated without my buddy."

Before Diego could try and talk her out of going for a fourth time, Lucy turned to the rickety gate to the pasture they were camped in, and used it as a frame. She breathed, focused, and with what was becoming instinct reached for the energy line that ran beneath her feet, pulling the energy and spinning it out into a gate.

She had never been to the French Embassy, but she had been close enough, and she had a person to focus on as well. In a little under seven minutes of sweating she was looking through into a marble atrium, crowded with people. That wouldn't do, she spied a closet and refocused utill she was looking at near darkness, with a hint of light creeping through. Much better.

With a wave at a cheerful Zahra and a glowering Diego she took a deep breath and stepped over the threshhold and into London.

She waited in the closet for five or six minutes, opening the door and slipping out when no one was looking. The entryway was filled with men in crisp black robes, pacing back and forth, nodding at each other, and moving along. Guards.

Although Lucy had never been inside this building before, it didn't take her long to Sense where her quarry was, and she slipped down a hall and around the corner from the guards. Past a formal looking dining room she stopped in front of a white door with fancy engraving. Behind it she could hear music. She cracked it open, saw who she was looking for, and slipped inside, closing the door behind her with a click.

Marguerite did not look up from the grand piano, and the strands of Moolight Sonata tinkled on.

"S'il vous plaît, Bastian-"

"Who's Bastian?" Lucy interrupted.

Marguerite hit a wrong chord and didn't let go of the pedal, letting the clashing tones echo in the room as she stared at Lucy in astonishment.

"Lucy?"

"How are you doing?"

Marguerite hopped off the bench and Lucy caught the tiny blond girl in a crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry sweetie, I came as soon as I heard."

Marguerite wiped her eyes, "You didn't have to do that."

Lucy snorted, "Of course I did. You shouldn't be all by yourself. I thought you were at your grandparents this summer, until I read the paper, why did you come back here?"

Marguerite took a seat on the sofa. "I was, but Mama and Papa didn't want me far away, and they spend all day at St. Mungo's, so I stay here. They won't let me come see him, not yet."

Lucy sat next to her, not saying anything. Marguerite didn't seem to mind.

"It was awful, he wasn't even supposed to be here. We were supposed to go to Paris that day, but Andre, he had forgotton something back here, something for work, and he wanted to take care of it before we left, so he apparated back. And Papa asked him to bring him the gift he had left in his study for Monsiuer Portiscue, the old French Ambassador. Papa feels awful now, if Andre hadn't been in the office when they threw that Thing in there he might not have been hurt at all."

Lucy nodded. "I haven't read the latest papers, have they figured out who did it?"

Marguerite shook her head. "It could have been anyone. After Minister Renout's statement, it could have been anyone who was angry."

Lucy nodded again, the French Minister of Magic had issued a very strongly worded statement against Fudge's treatment of international students last year, and his handling of the Azkaban situation and Death Eaters in general only a few weeks ago. Many British wizards had been angry, but Lucy had never suspected they had been angry enough to hurl a Dragon Breath Bomb through the window of the French Embassy, directly into Mr. Ducasse's public office. Andre Ducasse, the ambassador's son and Marguerite's brother, had the unlucky chance to be in the room at the time, and had suffered from both the fire and flying glass as well as the noxious fumes created by the bomb itself. The paper Lucy had read had left him in critical condition.

"And Andre? They won't let you see him, but he must be strong as an ox to have survived that."

Marguerite smiled, "He'll likely boast about it for some time. They have moved him off the critical cases floor, but he is still in the burn unit. And he's still groggy from the potions he has to take to heal what the smoke he inhaled did. Mama won't let me see him until they have fixed his face."

Lucy nodded, "You know, it is probably just as much for his sake, he'd probably be embarassed to have too many people see him with a burn on his face. Diego wouldn't even let me take a picture of him when he had a broken nose. Boys can be surprisingly vain."

Marguerite smiled.

There was a knock at the door.

"Mademoiselle?"

Marguerite looked alarmed. "Shh, don't say a word! I'm in here Bastian, I don't think I'll have my lunch yet, thank you, I'd just prefer to be alone."

Bastian was apparantly not one to pry. "Very good, Mademoiselle, I will leave a plate in the kitchen for you."

"Merci, Bastian, c'est gentil!"

Lucy was puzzled by Marguerite's alarm. "You don't want to introduce me to your butler?"

Marguerite shook her head. "Bastian's not the butler,  _Louis_  is the butler, and he was sent away along with the other servants. Bastian is the French Ministry guard who is assigned as my bodyguard for the time being. Lucy, how on earth did you get here?"

"Well, it's a little complicated."

"Well it just got more complicated.  _No one_  is supposed to be able to get in here! There are guards everywhere, and Papa has ordered that no visitors be admitted when he and Mama are not at home. If they catch you here I'm not sure what they'll do."

"Mademoiselle?"

"Yes?" Marguerite squeaked, shoving Lucy behind the sofa in case Bastian decided to come in.

"Your mother wanted me to remind you to take your vitamins."

"Yes, thank you Bastian, I'll take them with my lunch!"

"It is getting cold."

"Yes, I'm sorry, I will go eat it very very soon!"

"Very good Mademoiselle."

"Hmm, Bastian must not be too happy to have babysitter duty."

"The other guards tease him mercilessly about it, I try not to make him do very much, but mother has made it his job to make sure I eat."

Marguerite crept to the door and peaked out.

"Ok, it's safe, he's gone the other way down the hall, I can get you into the kitchen and out the door, quick!"

Before Lucy could protest that she could leave from the music room, Marguerite had her by the hand and was pulling her along the hall. They were nearly at the corner when deep male voices conversing in French could be heard, coming closer.

"Merde," Marguerite muttered, looking up and down the hall. She pulled Lucy back towards the music room and sharply to the left, down the corridor past Lucy's closet. At the entryway she peaked through the window.

"Merde, they still have Marius on the front door."

At the sound of the same voices, apparantly finishing their circuit, Marguerite once again grabbed Lucy's wrist and pulled her to the left of the door, past a pair of large double doors covered in Ministry "DO NOT CROSS" tape and directly in front of a smaller door.

"Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité," Marguerite muttered. The door swung open, Marguerite thrust Lucy inside and closed the door.

Lucy was alone in a dim room, the drapes were pulled across the window behind an elegant desk. Large bookshelves burst with leatherbound tomes with titles in French. There was a fireplace, unlit, on the far side of the room, and an equally elegant sofa and chair in front of it. It was not a large room, and it smelled of pipe smoke and brandy.

Lucy had wandered in a circuit, trailing her fingers along the spines of the books, before the door opened and Marguerite callled, "The coast is clear."

Lucy emerged back into the hall.

"I told them I saw something in the garden. They'll be searching that place for at least the next fifteen minutes. That means they will take Jean of the door to the solarium and I can slip you out there.

"You know Marguerite, I came in through the closet."

"What?"

Lucy shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't really give me a chance."

Marguerite stared at her for a moment before bursting out in bell-like laughter. Lucy couldn't help but join her.

"That," Marguerite wiped a tear from her eye, "Is the most laughing I've done since this all happened. Thanks."

Lucy gave her a hug, "I just wanted to make sure you were ok. They aren't going to keep you stuck in this mausaleum all summer are they?"

Marguerite laughed and shook her head. "No, once they calm down and once Andre is released to the French doctors they will take him home to recuperate. Untill then, Parker's family has been owling every other day to repeat their offer to let me come stay with them in the north. A few more letters and I think Mama and Papa may give in."

Good old Parker, Lucy thought, such a sweet boy.

Voices could be heard outside the windows along with the sound of rustling bushes.

"Poor fellows," Marie giggled, "I really must be extra good for them after putting them through this, they'll have to make a report and everything."

"You could start by eating your lunch."

"Now you sound like mother and Bastian. I eat just fine. But just in case they aren't being as thorough as usual, you better get back in the closet."

Lucy gave her a final hug. "See you at school!"

Marguerite closed the closet door on her just as Bastian came down the hall.

"There was nothing in the garden but the cat, Mademoiselle. Are you ready for- What was that?"

Marguerite pretended that she had not heard the crackeling and popping sound coming from the closet.

"What was what? You know Bastian, I am quite ready to have my lunch now. Would you like some lemonade, it must have been hot outside."

But Bastian was looking at the closet door. "Stand back, Mademoiselle."

Marguerite sighed and stepped away. Bastian took his wand out and swiftly opened the closet door.

To both their surprise, there was no one there.

* * *

  _Three days later..._

"Ahkmed if you don't put that lizard down this instant our next stop will be Antarctica, so help me God."

* * *

_Three days later..._

"Where do you want to head next?"

"We could take them to Australia. If we avoid the outback we won't be close to any schools."

"Oh, brilliant idea Diego. Do you have any idea how many poisonous animals they have in Australia? They have wildlife that can kill you in every way imaginable! I thought you _liked_ Ahkmed? We might as well just shove him down the crocodile's throat and be done with it!"

"Fine, fine, you pick then."

"How about the Galapagos?"

"With this lot? They'll drive three precious species to extinction per hour the minute we land. I thought you _liked_ tortises Lucy?"

"Point taken. Zahra, anywhere you can think of where we won't be endangering the lives of the children or the existence of several dozen endangered species?"

Zahra smiled, "Well, there is one place that I have always wanted to visit."

* * *

 

_Twelve hours later..._

"We are going to get caught. No way we don't get caught."

"We only get caught if we go in as one big group. If you drop off Zahra and her dozen in one place, then gate your other 12 somewhere else, and I land my motley crew in a different part, there's no way they will notice. It's summer, there are SUPPOSED to be crowds."

"Whatever you say. When are we meeting?"

"Japan around 12:30ish. And all the little darlings have their food in the backpacks already, so if they get lost at least they won't starve."

"Don't even talk about them getting lost."

"It's going to be fine. It's going to be fun."

"Right, fun, until they go missing."

"Buck up Diego, it's the happiest place on earth."

"Whatever. All right! My groups, over here!"

Lucy whistled sharply three times. From the tents thirteen children came at a run. Omiri took his place at her side with the clipboard and the other twelve lined up in twos.

Diego was still trying to quiet his lot down.

"How the he- heck, _how the heck do you get them to behave that way_?"

Lucy shrugged. "All right, is everyone wearing sunscreen?"

Not that most of them needed it, but still.

"Yes!"

"Everyone has water in their packs?"

"Yes!"

"A map?"

"Yes!"

"Where do you go if you get lost?"

"The castle!"

"Do we talk to strangers?"

"No!"

"All right Omiri, where did you guys decide you wanted to start?"

Omiri handed her a colorful map and pointed to a spot near the middle.

"Good choice. Ok, Diego, we're taking off!"

With that she turned and built her gate. It wasn't very far, and she was nearly as excited as the children.

A mile or so away, just as the early bird guests began to arrive, two by two children began to exit from a bathroom. Finally a short teenager emerged holding the hand of a small boy. Slipping on her sunglasses she looked around, satisfied no one had noticed their entrance.

"Regina, Ashok, and Ari, come here for a second."

Her three "squad leaders," who were in charge of three younger children, came forward.

Lucy handed them each a few dollars. "You're in charge of this, everyone gets ONE thing, it has to be within the budget though, got it?"

The children nodded.

"All right, off with you. Meet me back here in three hours."

Lucy looked down at Omiri, "Well old man, where do you want to go first?"

Omiri pointed to the left, and Lucy, grinning, took him by the hand as they followed Ari and his group towards the entrance to Pirates of the Carribean.

* * *

  _Two hours later..._

"It's Jasmine!"

"I swear it wasn't me!"

"Not YOU Jasmine, _HER_ Jasmine!"

It would be another 45 minutes before they could persuade Princess J to part from the human incarnation of her favorite heroine and come get some lunch.

At which point they would discover that Ahkmed had fallen in the river on the Jungle Cruise while trying to get a look at a python, Darius had been sick on the Dumbo ride, Ashok was STILL riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and a pair of the 12 year old boys had gotten in a fight with Goofy.

"That's it," Diego growled, "You are sentenced to Epcot for the rest of the day."

For children on a field trip, nothing sounds worse than what's actually educational.

* * *

 "How much longer?"

"Five minutes."

Silence, then... "How much longer?"

"Four minutes and 45 seconds."

Silence, then... "How-"

"Simon, I swear if you ask me that question one more time I will lock you in a closet until this is over."

Simon decided to be quiet and return to his spot on the bench.

Lucy sighed and leaned back in her chair.

Deciding that no intervention was needed, Zahra turned back to Diego.

"Sorry, missed that last bit, what did you say?"

Diego grinned and pulled her against his shoulder. "I was saying, that maybe we could take the kids to Morocco tomorrow."

Zahra nodded lazily. "Sounds good, near the ocean, I assume?"

"Mmmhmmm, we can't technically go into the desert since the whole god damn Sahara is technically a possible location for the school, and we promised not to take the kids to a school."

"Well, I'm sure it's not for too much longer."

Diego sighed and looked out over the water.

"You don't believe that, do you?" Zahra turned her head up to him.

"Don't believe what?" Diego wasn't looking at her.

"You don't believe that they're going to call us back soon, that they'll just leave us wandering on our own for months more."

"We've been on our own for a month already. And we've heard nothing. We haven't heard from anyone in almost two weeks. I'm sure nothing's happened, because we'd feel it. So that means that nothing has happened. No progress, and we're no closer to bringing the kids home than we were in the beginning of July. How long are we supposed to keep going like this?"

Zahra didn't say anything, just leaned back and stared skyward as the voices and the music began and first fireworks of the nightly show exploded over the lake.

The fireworks shut the children up as well. All mouths were closed as everyone stared skyward in rapt fascination.

Everyone except two. Zahra was just tearing her gaze away to give Diego a kiss when she saw that he wasn't watching the show. She followed his gaze to where Lucy sat, with Omiri, Regina, and Jasmine clustered at her feet. Lucy was asleep.

"You're worried about her."

"She got some more of those wizard newspapers today. There was an assassination attempt on the French Minister of Magic a few days ago."

"Did she know him or something?"

"No, of course not. It's just another reminder of what's going on back there. There's this horrible tension and anticipation, you know, just waiting for another attack."

Zahra shrugged, "I know the feeling."

Diego smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Yes, but you're prepared, somewhat. That's why we're exiled for the time being. We aren't just sitting around waiting for it anymore, we are actively working to prevent any damage, right?"

"Of course. And Lucy's doing that too."

"But she can't do anything about what's happening back there. You know that after the front page she always turns to the obituaries second?"

"Seriously?"

"Every time. It was different last summer. She didn't have many close friends there, she didn't even get the paper to know what was going on. But she's got all these ties now, I mean, look at the way she went charging back to London when she heard about that French kid."

"And when she's back at school, she's always ravenous for news from you about what's going on in the Circle, is that it?"

Diego nodded. "She doesn't get a break, she's always pulled in two between where she is and where she can't be."

Zahra looked over at the figure lightly snoring in the chair. "Must be exhausting."

"That's what I'm worried about. Lucy isn't as strong as she thinks she is. She does too much, too fast. It was something that even Antolin was worried about."

"Why?"

"Everyone has their  limits. Lucy doesn't like to be told about hers. She keeps pushing what she should be capable of, take all the gating."

"But, gating was an old fashioned practice, something everyone could do but chose not to. It's not sophisticated or advanced."

"No, there are more efficient ways, but while gating is simpler, it uses more energy. It uses power she doesn't have, shouldn't have."

"If she shouldn't have the power-where is it coming from?"

Diego looked up at the fireworks.

"You're afraid she'll burn out, is that it?"

Diego watched a rocket explode into a curtain of light, felt the impact of the BOOM. It was so bright it made him blink, then there was the typical fizzing sound, and the light's blinked out.

"Bright, loud, explosive, and brief." He muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

But Diego kept his eyes on the sky. When the show was over, he looked over to see Lucy stealing candy from Regina's pocket, while yelling at the twelve year old boys, Mikos and Kristos, to keep off the wall.

Zahra was still looking at him intently. Diego grinned, kissed her, and the ominous conversation seemed to melt out of their minds.

"Come one, let's go pack up for Morocco."


	4. Among the Uncivilized

Morocco was hot, as it ought to be in August. The children, who by now were quite used to dividing up into groups of four and taking care of each other, delighted in wandering the markets and watching trained monkey's fleece tourists.

Lucy continued to pour over the stack of Daily Prophets that she had received while in Disney World. What wasn't reported was almost as worrisome as what was. There was the prerequisite article about Harry Potter's mental state, a fluff piece that would glorify Fudge, a dark piece about Dumbledore, and then pages and pages of nothing. The papers only told what had happened, and gave no indication if any progress was being made, or who had been arrested.

She was irked, but not surprised to hear that the Ministry still intended to strictly regulate witches and wizards entering the country, and was subjecting all resident aliens to unimaginable scrutiny, with the sole exception of those students under the immediate supervision of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore of the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Those individuals were permitted unmolested passage through the wizarding world whilst directly en route to or from school.

Lucy snorted, and it had only taking the fending off of an unheard of number of dementors to get them that.

The arrival of the papers had coincided with the arrival of her Hogwarts letter, by seperate owl. Lucy was more than a bit bemused to read the letter, with the direction, "Lucy Montero, the Spinning Teacups, The Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando Florida, the United States ." That was, once the operator had stopped yelling at the owls inside his ride and once the world had stopped spinning long enough for her to be able to read, but which time she narrowly escaped having to explain the newspapers which Jasmine was attempting to read.

Owl mail really could be unreasonably complicated, and the sooner that wizards discovered the internet the better, in her opinion.

The letter came with a note from Dumbledore, saying that as it seemed she did not wish to be found this summer with any ease, he had waitied to send her letter until, as he understood, she would also be recieving another shipment from the magical world. Lucy still wondered at how Dumbledore knew she was having a stack of Daily Prophets delivered to her, but she didn't intend to ask. The letter was the same as usual, and reminded her that she needed to pick up a copy of her new Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook at some point; it was the only text she had not been able to procure from Warren Lane or one of the other graduating international students, seeing that as usual, there was to be a new professor this year.

She decided to wait until Diego was in a better mood to approach him about when might be a good time for her to take THAT little trip. He had made the mistake of drinking the water and was now sick as a dog. Zahra assured them that it would pass soon after he took a remedy she had learned from her father, but at the moment she was the only one brave enough to come within ten feet of the miserable Mexican.

Then again, Lucy thought with a smile, she didn't have to get too close to him to discuss the matter...

 _Hey Don Juan, how's it going?_  She sent the message telepathically.

 _Don't you have any respect for the dead?_  The voice she heard in her head sounded both sulky and hoarse. Diego was always a miserable patient.

_You're not dead, you just wish you were._

_Shouldn't you be minding the children?_

_They pretty much mind themselves, besides, I'm all out of candy at the moment._

_What?_

_Never mind. Listen, I need to slip out some afternoon and go pick up some things for school._

_No way are you going by yourself._

_Right, of course not, because you know so much about the wizarding world._

_Those people can't be trusted. They keep trying to arrest you._

_Only once, and my sentance has been suspended, so it should be fine._

_Should be fine, right, just that they have these tall cloaked THINGS that suck out your soul running loose, and the little gods only know what else that homicidal maniac, who by the way, is ALSO running loose with a gaggle of followers, has managed to recruit in recent months. Sure, it'll be fine and dandy._

_It is very unlikely that there will be dementors in Diagon Ally._

_Lucy, you're the one who told me they got a good chunk out of the French Minister of Magic. If they could get to a man as well protected as that, what makes you think that you are going to be any safer? Have you forgotten why we are out here in the first place?_

_No, of course not. Which is why I will just dart in and out. If we are being hunted that's the last place they will look for me._

_Unless they come to the not too difficult to draw conclusion that you need to buy schoolbooks like every other student. Can't you let one of your friends do it?_

_Do you really want me to send more letters than necessary? An owl can be traced, a gate cannot._

She heard the mental sigh that meant she had won. She tried not to gloat too much, after all, he was a dying man.

_When do you want to go?_

_Tomorrow morning._

_Morning?_

_The fewer people the better, the ally will be less crowded._

_Fine. But you're explaining this to Omiri._

Omiri had not been happy. As her gating buddy her had insisted on coming along. In the end she had been forced to drug him, in a matter of speaking. She had bought massive quantities of chocolate at the bazaar and had left him in charge of them in her absence.

She gated quickly from one ally to another. She tripped over a trash can and scared the wits out of a pack of cats before she emerged, wiping trash and dirt from her clothes, a few doors down from the Leaky Cauldron. Gating into Diagon Ally wasn't impossible, but Lucy preferred the company of muggles rather than wizards. Their allys could be depended upon to have little besides trash cans and cats. The little gods only KNEW what was in a wizard's side ally, and she didn't care to discover it by landing in it.

It was early in the morning, which meant that there weren't too many people in the pub other than the inn's guests who were down for breakfast. Lucy managed to slip through to the back without exciting comment, tapped the bricks with her wand, and stepped into Diagon Ally.

For a Saturday morning it was busier than she thought. Fortunately, she knew where she was going, and she had remembered to bring a robe, of sorts. It was a black cloak from the bazaar, but it looked enough like typical wizard-wear that hopefully she wouldn't have a neon "MUGGLE" sign on her back. She just wanted to slip in and out.

Unfortunately, this particular morning happened to be the launch of Rita Skeeter's book, simply entitled "Scandal," and the line at Flourish and Blott's extended out the door and into the street. Lucy groaned. All she wanted was her damn text book.

Elbowing her way inside she found the Hogwarts section and scanned the shelf for "Survival By Wand". There was a large stack, most students had not been in to pick theirs up yet. As an afterthough she remembered she also needed her Apparator's Education workbook as well. The text, "Splinching is Only the Beginning," she had from Warren, but he had burnt the workbook the minute he passed his test, so Lucy would have to get that on her own.

In the front of the store a positively POISONOUS looking woman with outrageous glasses was perched on a stool signing book covers while the rest of the people in line were already flipping through the large tome, gasping at intervals and pointing out particularly interesting passages to their neighbors. Apparantly the most unimaginable events were occuring on page 264.

Lucy looked at the line, hoping she could just cut in in front, buy her books, and get out. She carefully picked her way through to the counter, only to be met with a withering stare from a rather large wizard, who gruffly pointed with his wand towards the mass of humanity. "Line's that way."

Lucy groaned, and dragged her feet back towards the door. Perhaps if she just kept on walking...but then, she hardly needed another misdemeanor charge on her record with the Ministry.

So much for running in and out.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She spun around and came face to face with Magnus Mercury.

At least, she was fairly certain he was named Magnus Mercury. They had met very briefly at the end of the previous school year. It appeared that Magnus, like only 3 other students Lucy knew at Hogwarts, also had Western Circle style gifts. Lucy had promised to teach him to control them the next school term.

"Magnus! That is your name, right?"

Magnus grinned, it stretched from ear to ear. "Yeah, that's me. And you're Lucy, I remember that much. Trying to buy books, is that it?"

Lucy looked at the pair in her hands. "You caught me in the act. Looks like it will only take me an hour or two."

Magnus looked at the line and groaned. "Geez, what a circus. And that Skeeter woman is the ringmaster from Hell, you won't believe the demands. I got sent out three times before the coffee was to her liking. You'd think she was royalty. And the book is complete trash. But it's flying off the shelves like you wouldn't believe."

"That's what it looks like, so you work here?"

Magnus nodded. "My cousin got me the job for the summer. Involves a lot of heavy lifting, I'd kill to be of age and able to use magic right about now. I am getting some nice biceps though."

"Any chance you could use them to defend me from the scary wizard at the front and let me buy these and be on my way?"

Magnus glanced at the counter. "Who, Cassius? He's a pussycat. It's the damn Skeeter woman that's put him in a bad mood. Come on, I'll ring you up in the back, he won't mind."

With the skill and agility that comes from being 15 and 17, they threaded through the crowd, and Magnus lead her by the hand around the counter and into the back room.

"Okay," Magnus sat at a desk in on the back wall, and reaching through a huge pile of papers came up with a tatty notebook and a pencil, "Give us those for a minute."

Lucy handed over the books, Magnus noted down the prices.

"And how will you be paying, Miss?"

That was a good question, and one Lucy had quite forgotten about. Her account at Gringott's was nearly bone dry, holding just what was required to keep it open. The Slytherin gambling ring was paying for her tuition and expenses, but she wasn't sure how that was happening, to tell the truth.

"I don't know," she sighed.

Magnus looked up. "You don't know? I take it you have no cash?"

Lucy shook her head.

"Do you want to draw on your Gringott's account, we can do that directly from here."

"I don't think that will be of much use, it's pretty near empty. See, there was some fund that was going to pay for my tuition and-"

"Oh," Magnus flushed, "Oh of course, no I forgot, you're the first one to come in. Right, we've got your names, so we just need a wand identification and then someone from the trust will come in and pay for all your supplies at the end of August."

"Really?"

Magnus nodded, rummaging around in the desk again. "Yeah, we got a letter back in June, but I was mostly stocking shelves, they hadn't let me work the counter until the new shipments were settled, I didn't pay attention...ahh, here we are. If you would just tap your name with the wand please."

Lucy found her name, tapped, and saw it shimmer, then return to black.

"Right, that's all we need. I'll just note down your purchases here for the trust to pay for... that's it. Here, let me wrap those."

In a flash her books were wrapped somewhat clumsily in brown paper and tied with a string. Magnus handed them back sheepishly. "I don't usually do that part. There's a wrapping charm, but I'm underage, so I have to do it by hand. That's pretty good for me, you should see my Christmas gifts."

Lucy grinned. "It's fine. So, while I've got you, have you had any...problems over the summer? How's the patch working?"

There had not been time to train Magnus in his telekinesis before everyone left for the summer, so Lucy had temporarily patched, or blocked, his gift so he didn't accidentally cause a ruckus with his uncontrolled talents over the summer.

"Just fine, I think. I mean, I haven't sent anything flying since you put it on, so looks like you did a good job. I'll be glad to get it under control though, feel a bit like a dormant volcano or something right now."

Lucy smiled, she was going to like Magnus, she thought.

"Mercury," a gruff voice shouted from the front of the store, "If yer done playing with the lady there's work to be done up here!"

Magnus rolled his eyes, "She's a customer Cas!" He waved the bill in the air.

"I don't care if she's the bleedin' queen, we've got enough to deal with as it is! Is she done?"

"Yes!" Lucy called.

"Good, cause the Queen a Sheba has demanded some fancy tea, and I need Master Mercury over there to go fetch it!"

"Just my luck," Magnus mumbled as he and Lucy made their way out.

"Come on, I'll walk you as far as Hestia's, it's on the way back."

Hestia's House of Herbal Delight's was probably the absolute LAST place any fifteen year old boy wanted to be caught dead in. Lucy could read it in Magnus's face as they approached the chiffon'd palace, which was the type of place you could smell long before you could see.

It was time to repay the favor.

"I'll go in and buy it for you."

"You'd have my eternal gratitude. I have friends working at The Splintered End and I'd never live it down if they saw me."

Lucy looked up the street towards the racing broom store and handed her books to Magnus.

"I'll make it quick."

But as it turned out, there was a virtual mountian of teas in the back of the store, and Lucy found herself on her knees, searching for the particular variety that Rita Skeeter had demanded.

"Aha!" Seizing the jar from the second shelf to the bottom, she rose-

And found herself staring at a gleaming white beard that looked awfully familiar.

"Good afternoon, Miss Montero."

"Hello headmaster. I didn't expect to see you here."

Dumbledore smiled. "I have a little tickle in my throat, I find the clover honey and mint tea Madam Hestia sells to be just the thing for it. I must say that I AM surprised to see you here, I was under the impression that you were abroad for the summer."

It sounded simple and conversational, but from the slightly raised eyebrow on Dumbledore's smiling face, Lucy could tell that he wanted an answer.

"I was, I mean, I am, it's just that, I needed to pick up a few things for school."

Dumbledore looked down at the tea.

"Oh, no, this is for Magnus."

"Mr. Mercury has a hankering for... East Asian Honeysuckle and Ginko Rhapsody?"

Lucy smiled, "Not exactly, but Ms Skeeter does, and since he helped me buy my books, I decided to spare him the embarassment of being seen in here."

Dumbledore smiled.

"I mean, not that it should be embarassing to be seen in here, it's just that, when you are a fifteen year old boy, you might find it-"

"Hard as it may be for you to imagine, Miss Montero, I was a fifteen year old boy myself once, and you could not have induced me to set foot in this store for all the gold in Gringott's."

"The place is a bit overwhelming, I'll be glad to leave."

Dumbledore nodded, "That was what I wanted to speak to you about Lucy. I think it would be a good idea if you left London entirely as soon as possible."

Lucy took a few moments to process this. "I didn't intend to stay very long, but might I ask why?"

Dumbledore sighed, "It's a matter of wording, really. The legistlation that you and the other students put before the Ministry last spring only protects you from harassment and the authorities while you are under my guardianship. That means only while you are a student at school or directly on your way to or from school. At any other time, you are subject to the authority of the Department of Immigration. For example, right now."

Lucy nodded, "Then, they haven't given up on blaming us for matters that we had nothing to do with, is that it?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Exactly. They are particularly irked that I had all of your sentances truncated, and if I were you, I would stay out of their way as much as possible."

"Well, I only intended to stay as long as it took me to buy my books, and that's finished. I don't expect to be back until September."

"I'll see you at school then, Miss Montero."

Lucy stepped in line to buy the tea. By the time she had paid and was heading out of the store, she couldn't find Dumbledore anywhere.

Odd, but then, everything about Hogwarts and the Eastern Wizarding World in general was a little bit odd.

In front of her, a ten year old boy bit into a piece of candy and sprouted yellow feathers on the top of his head. He proceeded to run down the street followed by two hysterical girls with long brown tails.

Case in point.

Magnus was waiting a safe distance from Hestia's.

"I hope this will hold that woman. If she keeps up like this Cassius is liable to start hexing her and then he'll be fired and I'll have to actually speak to her."

"Well, better hope for the best then."

"See you at school!"

Lucy nodded, made her way back to the Leaky Cauldron and out into good old muggle London as fast as she could.

* * *

 

Her encounter with Magnus and the headmaster continued to occupy her mind for some days thereafter. As a result, the twelve year olds under her supervision had free reign over their charges; after Diego had put out his fourth fire of the day he and Zahra decided it was time for another educational destination.

Lucy wasn't so thrilled.

"What, may I ask, is wrong with Guam? They have brown tree snakes here, Ahkmed is in absolute heaven."

"Well I'm in hell! The kids run wild on the beach, Darius is shaping up to be a pyromaniac, Ari hasn't come out of the palm tree in three days and if I have to eat one more meal served on banana leaves I'm going to hurl! We're taking the kids somewhere civilized."

"Fine." Lucy stood up and began to pull jeans on over her bathing suit.

"Just like that?"

Lucy shrugged. "I was joking about the snakes, well, not entirely, of course the little monster will be disappointed, but I don't really care."

Diego grabbed her by the arm as she went to pack up her bag.

"What's with you? You've been distracted ever since you came back."

"Dumbledore told me I shouldn't come back until September when we report for term."

"And?"

"And I never expected that being barred from the Eastern Wizarding World would irritate me."

"But it does?"

"Like poison sumac in your underwear. It shouldn't, I don't belong there. But then I was thinking, who decides who belongs there? Who's to say why Sergei, or Nicholas, or Sasha or William or I should be limited as to when we can come into that society?"

"Who's telling you now?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. Not Dumbledore, he was just trying to keep me out of trouble. And at a time like this you would think the Ministry would be reaching out to the international community for help."

"Maybe they're too proud. The little gods know that some of the more remote schools resisted being included in the web simply because it would alert people when they were in danger, and they didn't like others knowing they were weak."

"Maybe. But the more I thought about it the more helpless I felt. It's bad enough being cut off from the Circle, but I feel more and more like back in England there is so much secrecy and bureaucracy that even the wizards don't know what's going on, the students least of all."

Diego sighed, so that was it. He knew Lucy better than anyone else on earth, and emotionally he knew her even better than Antolin. She absolutely HATED to be left out of anything, to not know. There was no end to the means she would use to try and find out what was being hidden from her. It was a quality that made it difficult to hide Christmas presents.

He rubbed her shoulders soothingly. "Listen, you aren't going to find anything out while we're tossing about out here. Just relax, and when you are back in that rainy, clammy, dismal country you can ferret out answers from dawn till dusk. And until then, try and keep an eye on the kids, I caught Regina trying to sell off Atreu again."

"Well what was her asking price?"

"Lucy!"

"I'll talk to her."

"Good, now get packed."

"Where are we going again?"

"Somewhere civilized."


	5. Snakes, Stealing, and Sanctuary

"Have you seen Darius and his crew lately?"

"No, they must be off getting cultured."

"Ha ha. Give it a rest Luce, this is much better for them than frying on the beach all day."

"Of course it is, now they can fry in the sun without the water to cool off in."

"See what a little culture does for your wit?"

"I'd rather be wet, preferably with one of those little drinks with the umbrellas in it resting in my hand."

"I'll see what I can do about the drink later. Have you seen Zahra?"

"I think they went to see a musuem, or a temple, I'm not sure, they had a couple dozen left."

"I don't recall you having such a powerful aversion to this place."

"I don't, it's just a little bit European for my tastes."

"European is bad?"

"The psychos who are currently trying to kill us and take the kids are European, is a loose association, I suppose..."

"Then they wouldn't expect us to come here, would they?"

"You know, that exact same logic could be used in favor of going home."

"We promised we wouldn't."

"We didn't realize how long we'd be out here."

"How long has it been?"

"We officially passed Noah's flood two weeks ago."

And for her part, Lucy would have preferred forty days and nights of storm and thunder to this endless migration.

Diego whistled.

"Geez, see how time flies when you're having-

"-a breakdown? I'm supposed to be back in England September 1st!"

"You're worried about  _that_  place at a time like this!"

"I have people there that are counting on me Diego, I explained that. Besides, in light of recent events the Circle needs my eyes and ears more than ever."

"Well, yeah, but still, you can't go until this is resolved."

"No I can't, so what happens then?"

"We'll figure it out. Are you sure you can't see Darius?"

"I'll check again."

Theirs was probably the only place on the Acropolis that wasn't swarming with tourists. Of course, that was because most tourists didn't frequent the roof of the Parthenon. Lucy crept out from their hiding place behind what must have once been a statue, and using the Sight scanned the crowd. She found Regina's flock imitating the poses of the statues on the Porch of the Maidens, Perseus and Omiri were not far off, tagging along with a tour group, Ahkmed and Mikos were collecting bugs on the hillside, and she sensed about eight of their charges somewhere near the temple of Nike.

"How many went with Zahra?"

"Eight, I think."

"That leaves us about ten or so unaccounted for hellions, in the Agora I'll bet."

"You go find them, they like you better anyway, I'll keep an eye on the little darlings here."

"Me? You were the one who wanted me to find Darius."

"Yes, because he's becoming a ringleader, and I think he was starting to pick pockets in Rome last week."

"What!"

"Well he was definitely fleecing tourists at Delphi on Wednesday."

"How is this my fault?"

"I don't know, give me time and I'll think of something."

"Fine. But this means I get to pick the next destination, and it's going to be ruin-free. Two weeks of culture is about all I can stomach. And you had better keep an eye on Ari and Ashok, they tried to leave Jasmine in the maze of the Minator on Crete."

"Well that's not so terrible."

"I meant for their own safety. Regina's going to do something  _terrible_  to them and I'd like to make sure we can still return them in working order when this is all over."

"Sturdy girl that one."

"Very."

With a final wave Lucy made her way down a crumbling collumn, careful to avoid the snapping cameras of tourists.

She felt the prickles of aprehension crawl up her spine as she hit the ground, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

Darius and his gang did tend to break their leashes every so often, but they had never done anything that wasn't fixable, not really. Then there was the fact that she was uncomfortable bringing the kids to Europe, which was true, but surely in Athens of all places it would be impossible to distinguish the kids from normal summer tourists, and quite of a few of the kids were Greek themselves. They should be totally safe.

Despite the foolishness of it, she set off for the market agora at a run.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she found most of the kids gathered around the food market, munching on sweets, which, since no one was chasing them, she assumed they had bought legally.

She sucked the air back in immediately when her gaze shifted to the left, to the impeccably well dressed blond figure across the street.

Of all the marketplaces in all the cities in all the world...

Drace Malfoy had to walk into hers.

Draco didn't bother her, he was a spoiled bully that she was confidant she could take in a fist fight. What bothered her was that it was highly unlikely he was here on his own.

She'd heard all there was to hear about Lucius Malfoy, and from what she had overhead on a night months ago when she was a guest in his house, she was more than certain that he knew too much about her.

He'd have known about the attacks, hell, he could have _lead_ them.

If he saw her with the children, it wouldn't be hard to figure out that these kids were exactly what his master wanted.

Her gaze flicked up and down the street, but she saw no sign of Mr. Malfoy, there was only Draco, looking board and staring disdainfully at a troupe of street performers who were juggling a variety of fruits.

Even a sheltered wizard ought to have more sense, she sniffed. Everyone knew that most of the street artists worked with the pickpockets, distracting gullible tourists long enough for their nimble fingered co-conspirators to relieve them of their wallets.

As a matter of fact, she could see a set of urchins closing in on Draco now, having relieved the sunburned grandmother of most of the contents of her purse-

A second glance revealed that these were no local urchins. They were hers.

It was official, those boys were going straight to hell.

And they were going to go there a lot faster if they tried to fleece Draco Malfoy.

But she found herself powerless to act as Jabari and Baal made their way past the now penniless elderly couple, the nuns, the dirty backpackers, and greedily eyed the obviously foreign boy in expensive-looking clothing.

Yelling would only draw attention to them, and while she was mindcalling them with all her strength, the ten year olds were not particularly gifted in that area, so it seemed.

Some of the students lounging around the fig vendor, however, were much more adept, and as Lucy was broadsending as loud as possible, it didn't take them long to understand what was going on, although they didn't seem to see what was so dangerous about the blond stranger.

They soon found out. Only a few moments after she had spotted the delinquents, Baal went for Draco's back pocket. He was a clever thief, but it wasn't for nothing that Draco had managed to maintain his spot on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and before Jabari could even draw his hand away from the bag slung over Draco's shoulder, he had an arm of each boy in a vise-like grip.

They protested, they yelled in Egyptian and Greek, but Draco had murder in his eyes, and Lucy saw the reason: Baal had bypassed the wallet, and curiosity had led his slender fingers to lay hold of Draco's wand.

Draco now had the wand crushed in his right hand, along with Baal's left, and he strode out of the agora, dragging the two children behind him.

A wallet would have been bad enough, but Baal had tried to disarm a Slytherin.

Shit.

Lucy took off at a run, following Draco's out of place blond hair through the bustling crowd.

_Get over here!_

_What's wrong?_

She heard Diego's puzzled voice in her head.

_Two of the kids just tried to rob a wizard._

 

_What? What happened?_

_They tried to pick his pocket and he caught them!_

_Well, where are they?_

_I don't know, he's dragged them off, and from the look in his eyes and the fact that he was most likely terribly bored beforehand, I doubt he's taking them somewhere to have a nice talk about respecting their elders._

_Can't you talk to him?_

_Well, there's a problem._

_Aside from the fact that you're babysitting the kids who picked his pocket?_

_They tried to fleece his wand actually, and yes, it's bigger than that. Remember when I told you about Lucius Malfoy?_

_They tried to steal from him?_

_His son. And seeing as he's no longer underage, there's no restrictions besides his imagination on what he can do out of term._

_I'm on my way._

Malfoy turned down a small ally. Lucy stopped short to avoid being seen.

Someone bumped into her.

She turned around in surprise to see Ubaid, a quiet but generally reliable 12 year old, at the head of a mob of ten Cairo students.

"What are you doing?"

"Following you."

"No, you need to go back and wait at the temple, we'll find you later."

"But we dared them to do it! We can't just sit back and-"

"Shhhh!" Lucy clapped a hand over his mouth, afriad that in this quieter section of town, Draco might hear them.

"Listen to me, all of you. That boy that Baal and Jabari tried to rob is a wizard, a wizard like the ones who attacked the school. They tried to take his wand, and that is going to make him very, very angry. So we can't just go charging in and-"

"Let me go!"

"Stop it!"

At the sound of the boys yells, Lucy fell silent and drew her own wand.

"Stay here," she growled. "Wait for Diego, I'm leaving Ubaid and Onur in charge."

She stepped into the ally, hovering a few inches from the ground to silence her steps, and cautiously peered around the corner.

Draco seemed to have hit Baal with the JellyLegs curse, and Jabari with something that had resulted in his hands swelling red and apparently becoming sticky, as he seemed to be having difficulty pulling them apart.

She might have gotten away with disarming him too, if Baal hadn't seen her first, alerting Draco with his surprised expression and shout of "Lucy!"

Instead she ended up dodging  _his_  curse by tumbling behind some boxes.

She popped up, her wand pointed at the scowling Slytherin, who was pointing his right back at her. Not that Lucy was any match for Draco in dueling, but if she could make him  _think_  that was where the attack was going to come from, she might buy some time to figure out a plan.

"Where in the name of Merlin did  _you_  come from, Montero?"

"I might ask the same of you. Isn't this all a little too  _muggle_  for your tastes Draco?"

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't be here. Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me to deal with these urchins in my own fashion."

"You are truly courageous against a pair of unarmed pre-adolescents."

They had been circling each other slowly, and Lucy had managed to position herself between Draco and the boys. However, this also put Draco directly between themselves and their escape.

"They're thieves you idiot. They deserve what they get."

While he was scowling, Lucy quickly flicked her wand sideways and reversed the boys curses. They scrambled to their feet behind her.

"Isn't using magic in front of the muggle public a violation of something?"

Draco sniffed, "You're one to talk."

Lucy shrugged, "You did it first."

His eyes narrowed, "What are they to you anyway? How did they know your name?"

They had stopped moving, and Lucy found herself at an impasse. To get past Draco and safely away would require disarming him. However, she was fairly certain that she would never out  _expelleramus_  him, and that a simple mental tug wouldn't do the trick. She needed to overwhelm him in some way.

_Where are you?_

_Did you find Ubaid?_

_Yeah_.

_Good, tell the kids to charge._

_What?_

_Now!_

She really ought to have had a camera, but she was quite sure that the image of a dozen or so small children bearing down on Draco Malfoy like a human freight train would live on in her mind forever. She'd never seen them so perfectly focused unless the prize at the bottom of the pile was the final granola bar.

As he fell under the onslaught, Lucy neatly nipped his wand from his outstretched fingers.

"Everybody off!"

This took a little more time, but with a stern admonishing in Egyptian the students scrambled to their feet, pulling Baal and Jabari protectively behind them.

Diego jerked Malfoy to his feet, holding his struggling form easily in his arms.

"Baal and Jabari, come here."

The boys looked at each other apprehensively, but seeing as Lucy had two wands on the wizard, it seemed safe enough.

Lucy didn't remove her gaze from Draco's eyes.

"Now, apologize for trying to steal from this boy."

"What?"

"Apologize, or I'm giving him back his wand."

The boys muttered what might pass for an apology, glaring at Draco all the while.

"Now, Draco, apologize for cursing the children."

Draco scoffed, "Never."

Lucy shrugged, she'd known he'd sooner face a Norwegian Ridgeback, but fair was fair. "Stupify!" It only took her three times to do it correctly.

Draco lay stunned on the ground. The children looked at Lucy with new found respect.

She turned back to Baal and Jabari. "All right, give me your stash, now."

They quickly emptied their pockets of all they had "collected" that day. If she hadn't been so furious she would have been forced to admit that it was rather impressive, as it was she simply collected it and placed it in Draco's bag. Together they dragged him to the head of the ally and leaned him against some trash cans.

"What are you doing?" Diego asked, as they arranged Draco's legs.

"He tortured defenseless children. A punishment is in order."

It took less than five minutes for little Tum, with the face of an angel, to spread word that a pickpocket had been caught in the market and that everyone should check for missing belongings.

Draco was just coming to as the angry mob converged on him. By that time Lucy, Diego, and the children were fast on their way to meet Zahara on the Acropolis and get the hell out of there.

* * *

 "How much longer do we have to do this?"

"Until you fully understand the consequences of your actions."

Baal sighed and whispered under his breath to Jabari, "So, is that five more minutes?"

Jabari shrugged, he'd learned that asking questions would only prolong their sentence when he had started bugging Lucy an hour ago.

When discussing punishment, Diego had wanted to hold the boys' heads underwater until they started to turn purple. While Lucy agreed that this was an effective method in scaring the pants off them, both she and Zahra agreed that it did nothing to emphasize the fundamental wrongness of stealing, especially from the elderly and the clergy.

Zahra had suggested that they write out "I will not steal," until they had learnt their lesson.

Diego had told her it would require several thousand chalkboards before that was accomplished.

Then Lucy had remembered where they could find a surface long enough for the boys to write on from now until doomsday.

Despite its being summer, it was a little cooler than Athens, and they had been forced to stop and buy a few more clothes for the kids, but they felt it was worth it. Not to mention that word had got out they had bypassed the beaches of New Guinea just so that Baal, Jabari, Darius and the gang could learn their lesson; needless to say if the actual punishment wasn't getting to them, the focused anger of their classmates was.

They weren't about at the moment, however. In this isolated piece of the Chinese countryside, too far for tourists to stray and sheltered by hills and trees from the eyes of the locals, Diego had arranged them in a fiercely competitive game of capture the flag. Occasionally a cry could be heard from somewhere on the other side of the wall, usually when the jail was liberated.

From her perch atop the wall Lucy glanced back over her shoulder, shading her eyes with her hand and watching the specks below scramble about. She then faced forward and leaned down to watch  _her_ charges writing "I will not steal, especially from old ladies and nuns," on the Great Wall of China in purple chalk. To make the experience even more educational, she was making them write it in Arabic, English, and Quechua. They were now about a hundred yards down the wall from where she had started them at.

And when they had written it enough there were buckets and sponges for them to go back and wash it all off.

Lucy grinned, pulled her sunglasses back on and stretched out. It was going to be a long, lazy afternoon for her at least.

An hour later, as she was about to turn over to tan the back of her shoulders, a muffled sound came from her pocket.

"Lucy? Diego? Zahra?"

She jerked upright and fished the communication mirror from her jeans, flipping it open to see the anxious face of Mr. Sharif.

"Mr. Sharif?"

"Lucy, is everyone all right?"

It was always the first thing he asked. Like he feared to find the children in pieces or something. It was completely unnecessary, the only pieces of children that had gone missing had been a dozen or so baby teeth, and they weren't missing, Lucy had collected them in a bag to save on materials she had to buy for potions class.

"Yes, we're all fine."

"Where are the children?"

Lucy looked down to find that her work gang was several meters further down the wall.

"They're playing."

"You need to gather them up quickly then."

"We can come home?"

"No."

"Mr. Sharif, you have to stop doing that to me."

"I'm sorry Lucy, I didn't phrase that well. You  _are_  coming back, but none of you are going home, I mean, as far as I can tell. Espiritu is still abandoned, after all."

"But the children?"

"We've found a place for them, but I can't say anymore than that. Tell Zahra that you are to meet us at the Frowning Rock, she'll know where I mean."

"Frowning Rock?"

"Yes. As soon as possible."

"I don't under-"

"I can't explain right now Lucy. Mirrors can be watched, you know. I will expect you all soon."

And with that the image shimmered and faded, and Lucy was once again left staring at her own frustrated reflection.

_They had found a place for the kids._

Lucy leaned forward, craning her neck to the left to watch Darius frown as his piece of chalk broke. He seemed to think this made a wonderful opportunity to avoid work, and chucked it at Baal's head. Within seconds all thoughts of the punishment went out the window as chalk flew and a wrestling match commenced.

Turning around, she looked down at the "battlefield" and saw Jasmine pacing back in forth, apparently in jail, guarded fiercely by Omiri. But fleeting glimpses of movement in the trees suggested that her teammates were already on their way back to get her, and the flag that hung in a nearby tree.

She'd let them play until the game was over.

* * *

 "Frowning Rock" turned out to be little Zahra's name for a spot on Easter Island near a cluster of the foreboding stone faces. It was near sundown when their rag tag group stepped over the gate threshhold and landed on the cliff by the sea.

And they were not alone.

Zahra broke into a run and within seconds of coming across the gate was caught up in a bear hug by a haggard looking Mr. Sharif, whom she led back to the children, who were excitedly chattering on all at once about what an exciting time they had been having.

That is, they  _were_  chattering, until Lucy whistled sharply through her fingers twice. Then they were silent and attentive.

Diego shook his head incredulously.

Mr. Sharif beamed, and Lucy and Diego found themselves simultaneously caught up in a bear hug.

"Everyone seems more or less intact, I trust they behaved themselves?"

Lucy cast a glance around at the concerned faces of children who aren't quite sure if they are going to be ratted out. She thought about Ahkmed's snakes, about Isis's ongoing feud with Abu, Darius's criminal tendencies, and the future misdemeanors that could be expected from Baal and Jamabari.

She shrugged, "More or less."

Mr. Sharif gave them a knowing look, but smiled and addressed his students. "I am very glad to hear it. And today we will be traveling together, to a very special place. I trust you will contain yourselves while I have a word with your babysitters."

The children scattered to explore the area, and Mr. Sharif drew Zahra, Diego, and Lucy aside.

"Where are they taking them?" Diego queried.

"To Sanctuary."

"But where?"

"Sanctuary."

It began to dawn on Lucy.  _Sanctuary._  It wasn't a place as much as a protected state of being. It was as close to an Hogwarts level spell as ever the western world would come, but it still didn't involve  _magic._  Sanctuary with a capitol "s" was a place in the physical world that wasn't necessarily hidden, or isolated, it could be in the middle of a bustling city if you wanted it to. But the protection involved an energy concept that could only be defined as intentional ignorance. By consciously not knowing where it was, the rest of the circle protected those within Sanctuary from being found, even if they were being sought. The mental contributions of everyone provided enough of a shield to cover relatively few from the strongest magic.

A similar spell had been found in Hogwarts that spring, a spell to prevent anyone from noticing the locus stone at the heart of the school. However, that spell had been based on the unconscious ignorance of the Hogwarts students and faculty, and once the knowledge that the stone existed resurfaced, the spell had slowly collapsed.

That wouldn't happen here. They knew the students were being sought, that was why a Sanctuary had been formed.

Of course, one of the conditions of Sanctuary was that no one except those inside it knew where it was.

"Lucy?"

Lucy jerked her thoughts back to the conversation at hand, apparently Mr. Sharif had reacquainted Diego with the concept in the meantime.

"How long?" She asked.

Mr. Sharif sighed, "Until it is safe. This isn't a prison my dear, and it isn't the Void. The children will be able to learn and grow just as they would at the school, the only thing that has changed is the isolation from the Circle."

"And their families," Diego added.

"Yes," the librarian sighed. "But the situation has been explained to their parents, they realize it is the safest option."

There was a solemn pause.

"So, if you two would like to say your goodbyes to the children-"

"Two?" Zahra turned on her father.

"My dear, Cairo is no longer safe for you-"

"I'm too old to hide father." Zahra stepped forward and took Diego's hand. "After all of this I couldn't just run away and leave the fighting to everyone else."

Diego made to say something in protest, but a pair of dark eyes bore into his with an expression that would hear no argument. He settled for simply squeezing her hand.

Mr. Sharif's eyes were beginning to water. "I was afraid you would say that. In that case I am entrusting the library to you. You knew all there was to running it long ago in any case."

Now it was Zahra's turn to be confused. "To me? But surely you aren't'-"

"This is  _my_  school child,  _my_  students. And I have left their safety and care entrusted to others for long enough. Where they go, I go."

Diego and Lucy took that moment to begin rounding up the children, leaving Zahra and her father to say goodbye.

Three shrill whistles and Lucy's group was lined up before her, while Diego was still fishing his miscreants off the cliff and down from the rocks.

As he headed back with Persues firmly tucked under his arm, the tall Mexican shook his head,  _how did she do that?_

As they came near, he heard the end of the discipline speech she had apparently decided to leave them with.

"And I'm leaving my group leaders in charge. You look after your charges, you stick together, no matter what. And as for  _you two_ , if I so much as hear a  _rumor_ that you have been fleecing the clergy, no Sanctuary on earth is going to be safe enough to protect you from me, got it?"

"Yes Lucy."

"What else? Don't forget to change your underwear, brush your teeth, and avoid red and yellow reptiles, Ahkmed that goes double for you. Leaves of three, let it be; wait and hour before swimming; shake out your shoes in the morning; and Jasmine if you keep making that face it's going to stay like that."

Having finished her remarks she turned to find Diego staring at her.

"What?"

He didn't say anything, just pulled her into a hug.

"They're going to be fine."

"Of course they are, I taught all the girls exactly how to kick a guy in the-"

"We really need to be going now," a red-eyed Mr. Sharif interrupted. He handed Zahra over to Diego with a knowing smile. He slowly looked from his daughter, to Diego, to Lucy.

"Take care of each other."

Lucy was about to respond when she felt a tug on her tee shirt, and looked down to see and anxious Omiri staring up at her.

"What is it?"

"But you're my gating buddy!"

"What?" Mr. Sharif looked puzzled.

"I was his buddy," Lucy tossed back absentmindedly, as if that would explain everything. Hmm, this was a problem...

She drew the boy aside. "Now, you can't tell anyone, but you are better at it than most, so I would say that you were good enough to cross by yourself, but then everyone would want to do it. So I'll tell you what, you tell Regina and Jasmine that I said you three were going to be buddies together, and that way you can help them, since Jasmine isn't very good at it. But don't tell her that part ok, it will be a secret?"

Omiri nodded. But he still looked worried.

"Are you ok?"

"But, who's going to be your gating buddy?"

Lucy decided this was not the time to tell Omiri that she had made and used her own gates solo many times in the past. She simply rolled her shoulder toward Diego and Zahara.

"That's what brothers are for. We stick together."

This seemed to placate the small boy, and after a fierce hug he trotted back and joined Jasmine and Regina in the ranks.

At Mr. Sharif's puzzled look, she simply shrugged, "Crisis averted."

"Right, then I'll make you a gate back to Egypt?"

Diego nodded. They couldn't be there when the children left for Sanctuary, however it was they were getting there.

Mr. Sharif wasn't the best gate maker, his structure certainly lacked Diego's grace or Lucy's strength, but it would serve for three reasonably advanced and experienced individuals.

Diego made to cross first, but Lucy grabbed his hand quickly, then Zahara's.

At the raised eyebrow she simply shrugged, "I told Omiri..."

Zahra grinned, turned and waved with her left hand. Lucy and Diego waved with their joined hands before the three of them stepped over the threshold, back to the room they had escaped what seemed like a lifetime ago.

* * *

 Three days later...

"You would leave the packing to the last minute."

"In case you have forgotten, I was a bit preoccupied this summer, thanks very much. Now where is my amulet?"

"You don't have it?"

"Would I be asking if I had it? I'll check the dresser, you check my pack."

Diego eyed the dirty knapsack that Lucy had carried all around the world as he might a biohazard bin. She had refused to throw it away.

"Nevermind, I found it."

Thank god, he didn't even want to think about what was growing in that thing.

There was a knock on the open door. Zahra was smiling on the threshold, a pile of crisp Hogwarts uniforms in her hands.

"How's it going?"

"Not nearly fast enough. But thank you for helping with the laundry."

"I'll just put them in the trunk then, all right?"

Lucy nodded absentmindedly as she dived under the bed. Their relative positions being what they were, she never saw Zahra slip a small package between her newly folded shirts.

"Found it!"

Lucy came out from under the bed covered in dust, triumphantly clutching a battered State of New Mexico license plate, which she tossed on top of the freshly cleaned clothes.

Zahra cringed, and Diego quickly slipped it off the laundry, shoving it down near the sides.

"So, you're really going back?"

"Why wouldn't I be going back?"

"Oh, I don't know. The weather, the snobby wizards, the food, the homicidal maniac running loose, the cult of the homicidal maniac running loose, the constant threat of being arrested, the weather..."

Lucy smiled and gave Diego a smacking kiss on the mouth and a tweak on his nose.

"I don't think I've thanked you enough for being so supportive."

"Hey, I'm just doing my job here. Big brothers are  _supposed_  to be protective."

"And, as I recall, sisters are suppose to be appreciative."

"Exactly!"

"I said appreciative, not necessarily obedient."

Diego frowned.

"It's only one more year, and I'll have Faustas to look after me."

Faustas looked like a hawk, but was not a hawk, more a sort of humorless but devoted guardian of their school. He'd accompanied Lucy to Hogwarts her first year as a sort of babysitter to make sure she didn't runaway.

Diego snorted, "The way he comes and goes these days, he's hardly any protection at all."

Once Lucy had stopped trying to run away from Hogwarts at every opportunity, the hawk had spent most of his time aiding higher priorities in the circle and Lucy was on her own.

"Well, I'll be sure to pass along those sentiments whenever he decides to show up."

"Hopefully that's  _before_  they arrest you."

" _That_  is very unlikely."

"Which part, the part where he shows up, or the part where you get arrested?"

"Both, I imagine. He's involved in some big pow-wow in Peru I think, little gods only know when  _that_  will be done. Until then I guess I'm on my own. Not like I haven't done that before."

"And do you want the complete or the readers digest version of just how well  _that_  has turned out?"

Lucy chose to ignore the final comment, making her point instead by slipping her wand in her pocket and using her left leg to hold down the trunk lid while she secured it.

Diego was still pouting, Lucy simply wrapped her arms around him and turned her face into his shoulder.

"You didn't really think you were going to convince me to stay this time, did you?"

"Not really, but I had to try. Those people aren't stable."

Lucy gave him an extra squeeze. "I know, I think it's the only part that I understand."

Well, don't get too comfortable, keep your head up.

Lucy pulled back and gave him a  _look,_  "Don't I always?"

Diego grinned, picked up her trunk, and he and Zahra escorted Lucy through the now empty halls of Imhotep Academy in a much more serene version of the path they had raced through once before, the shortcut to the library.

It was strange, standing in that room again. The last time it had been full of kids, chattering, frightened, chaotic.

Diego seemed to be reading her mind. He had set the gate for an ally near the train station, then waited while Lucy gave Zahra a final hug, then him. As she turned to grab her trunk, he took her arm.

"OK-How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"It's been driving me _crazy._ The kids, how did you get them to  _behave_  like that?"

Lucy burst out laughing. "Are you serious, it bothered you  _that_  much?"

"Yes! What the hell inspired such fanatical loyalty?"

Lucy smiled, patted him on the head, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a handful of Jolly Ranchers.

"What's that?"

"The secret of my success."

Diego turned red, then purple.

"You  **bribed** them?!"

"I was their dealer, live with it."

" _You bought their loyalty with candy?"_

Lucy shrugged, "It was for sale, and I wanted it. Of course, by the end I didn't need to pay them off anymore, but how else do you propose to keep 14 kids in line in a Thai marketplace? I'm a lot shorter than you!"

Diego shook his head. "I was wrong, I take it all back."

"What?"

"You shouldn't go."

"We already talked-"

"No, not because it's dangerous. I mean, _it is_. But frankly, I just don't think they're ready for you over there."

Lucy grinned and grabbed the end of her trunk.

"No one ever is."

With a smile she popped a candy in her mouth and stepped over the edge of the gate, and back into London. For the last time, with any luck...

**The End**


End file.
